World Masterpiece Theater

World Masterpiece Theater (世界名作劇場), commonly abbreviated to Meigeki (名劇), was a Japanese prime time television programming block produced by Nippon Animation.[1][2] The timeslot showcased a different classical book or story from European or North American children's literature each year. It aired at 19:30 to 20:00 on Sunday on Fuji Television and its affiliates. The series ran from 1975 to 1997 with a revival on BS Fuji from 2007 to 2009.

Preceding World Masterpiece Theater was Calpis Comic Theater, which ran from 1969 to 1974. The programming block aired as Calpis Children's Theater from its official establishment in 1975 to 1977 and as Calpis Family Theater in 1978. The first series aired under the World Masterpiece Theater title was Anne of Green Gables in 1979.

History

The first several series were produced by Mushi Production and sometimes Tokyo Movie Shinsha, often commissioned by Zuiyo Eizo, and then by Zuiyo itself. The series was then continued by Zuiyo's division Nippon Animation, which was officially established in June 1975 during the run of A Dog of Flanders. In both cases, the series originally aired primarily on Fuji TV. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata both worked on several of the series. World Masterpiece Theater as produced by Nippon Animation lasted for 23 seasons, from A Dog of Flanders in 1975 to Remi, Nobody's Girl (家なき子レミ, Ie Naki Ko Remi, Sans Famille) in 1997. Nippon Animation restarted the series in 2007 with the release of Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette, which premiered on BS Fuji on 7 January, with Porufi no Nagai Tabi (The Long Journey of Porphy) subsequently airing on the same network beginning on 6 January 2008, making it the 25th World Masterpiece Theater series. The most recent and 26th series is Kon'nichiwa Anne: Before Green Gables (lit. Hello Anne ~ Before Green Gables).

To date, only seven series were ever dubbed in English for the North American market:

Companion volume

Apart from Fuji TV, there was also a companion volume of the World Masterpiece Theater, which was broadcast on TV Tokyo from 19:30 to 20:00 on Thursday. This is sponsored by Sumitomo Electric Industries alone, but it is characterized by the theme of a specific field rather than the family. Moero! Top Striker (1991) and Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (1992) are works of this companion volume.

Recurring casts

The following people frequently appeared in the World Masterpiece Theater, including the companion volume on TV Tokyo.

• Director
• Kōzō Kusuba
• Yoshio Kuroda: Other than the director, he also worked on storyboards and series composition, for example.
• Sound director
• Etsuji Yamada
• Voice actor
• Eiko Yamada
• Mitsuko Horie
• Keiko Han
• Rihoko Yoshida
• Taeko Nakanishi
• Yoshiko Matsuo
• Ai Orikasa
• Kazue Ikura
• Ogata Ken'ichi

Productions

Feature films

Two additional theatrical feature film remakes were produced as part of the franchise: Re-edited footage films of Heidi, Girl of the Alps, 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, The Story of Perrine and Anne of Green Gables were also released in theater in Japan over the years. Subsequently, every series of the franchise received a re-edited footage OVA released on DVD by Bandai and later broadcast as TV specials.

• The Dog of Flanders: The Movie (劇場版 フランダースの犬, Gekijōban Furandāsu no Inu, 1997)
• Marco: 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (Marco 母をたずねて三千里, Maruko Haha o Tazunete Sanzenri, 1999)

See also

• Masterpiece Theater, an unrelated yet similar anthology series produced by GBH Boston for PBS
• Animated Classics of Japanese Literature
• Hallmark Hall of Fame

Further reading

External links

• Official website
• Official Facebook page